Their Second Life

Since the disaster of the avalanche which engulfed a hotel in Italy, at least one lady has compared her rescue with being born again. It wasn’t glibly done, either: she explicitly credited God with her deliverance.

I may previously have referred to the words of Coxswain Frank Blewett of the RNLI when he described the steep ladder leading down to the survivors’ cabin: 

“These are steps trodden by the reborn. When we have snatched a man out of the jaws of death, this is where he begins his second life.”

Going back to the lady in the hotel, I would guess that the word she used for “reborn” was “renata”. I believe this was a name fondly used by ladies in northern Italy as they made a brilliant discovery, or rather re-discovery, of a Bible truth. They did it as the new learning called the Renaissance blossomed throughout Europe. Re-examining their Bibles in a new light, they discovered that the real qualification for gaining eternal life was to be born again.

This basic truth had become lost or submerged for centuries. This was hardly surprising. When Jesus first uttered it, it caught out the Jewish law expert Nicodemus. In John 3 we learn that Jesus told him,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Nicodemus could not understand that these words should be interpreted in a non-literal way.

“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”
Jesus explained:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus still didn’t get it. Jesus expressed astonishment that a man of Nicodemus’s learning could not detect the inner meaning of His words, even after He had clarified it. He had to spell it out.

“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

People today make fun of the expression, “Born Again”, because they don’t understand it. As a result, Christians involved in outreach tend to shy away from it. Yet sometimes it strikes a chord. I remember one evangelist with Birmingham City Mission who would go up to people on New Street and ask them bluntly, “Are you born again?”. He had some quite interesting and profitable conversations as a result!

The new birth is no novelty. It goes right back to the teaching of Jesus Himself. Believers should welcome it as a key part of their heritage.